Michigan-based Whirlpool moves manufacturing jobs from Mexico to Ohio

Whirlpool is a giant in the appliance world with annual sales around $18 billion.

The Benton Harbor based company says it’s moving production of its commercial front-load washing machines from Mexico to a plant in northwest Ohio this spring. All of Whirlpool’s residential washing machines are already built there. At nearly two and a half million square feet, Whirlpool claims the plant is the biggest washing machine plant in the world.

Whirlpool has about 15,000 manufacturing employees in the U.S. The company says 80 percent of the products it sells in the U.S. are made in the country.

The Monterrey, Mexico, plant is adding a new residential washer production line to serve the Mexican market.

Whirlpool now owns several brand-name appliances, including Maytag, Kenmore, and KitchenAid.